1. Iran is surrounded by US and allied forces. 2. The controlling values in western and iranian societies are opposed. 3. The iranian ruling elite is in a beautiful diplomatic position, with the ability to "strongarm" the US, 3a. This thanks to the immense failure of the internal US rethoric and the stupidity of the ivyleague-nomeoclature. 3b. The Pentagon are not equipped defend against a crisis in education and the reduction of students to consumers. 3x. Scenario 1 Iran developes nukes and a new umbrella for insurgents in Afgh and Iraq is created. Scenario 2 Iran is stopped in its pursuit by US or Israeli airstrike. The rulers win continued support from own populace and the gap between shia and sunni is closed further. The cost of war in iraq goes up, and the dream of iraquis taking over the fight and defending themselves from the muslem mujjaheddins gets the last nail in its coffin. :shock:
Looks like a no-win situation. Nobody seems to question what the need is for Nuclear power in the first place for a country that is a major supplier of oil to the world and capable of generating cheap power from virtually free oil driven steam generators. The world will be driven to the brink of catastrophe by ignorance of the public fueled by lies from the media, or a culture of shallowness. Or simply hatred by many idiots out there thinking what’s bad for America is good for the world.
Looks like a no-win situation. Its a dangerous game at least. Diplomacu faces a system of beliefs where Israel is a thorn in islamic flesh. It must seem blasfemic that the oldest of the religions of the book and of the one G-d take back its old land and thus counters a deterministic evolution of religion. In addition , the pop-culture is a threat that is at leat as real for the Eranian clergy, as it is for Pat Buchanan. Iran stands to loose its muslem soul. USA stands to loose its manuverability and hegemony as superpower. High stakes. The real tragedy, is that while machomen at the top of their social foodchains drum their symbolic drums and shake their explosive spears, the destruction of lifes plethora goes unchecked.
Maybe they know the long-term plan isn't diplomacy, and don't exactly agree with what they think these old, white guys have in store for them. The world as we know it is ending, ancient, ancientrivalries will surface once again, after all these years of planning and deception. The world that I see in store for us is one with crazy weather, battles over control of the earth and it's inhabitants, everyone choosing one of the pre-planned religions that they want you to believe in, awesome planet-altering with knowledge that only could of been handed down, and nobody but a few any wiser...with the few's opinions being drowned out by the large masses of stupid people... don't tell me you all don't see it coming yet? :lol: Maybe it'd speed things up a bit if they didn't have a nuke, so go ahead with the bombings.
whats crazy is that all of the iranians that i know are highly opposed ot their governemt.... they dont share the highly conservative views of their ruling party but can do nothing about it........ seems to be happening everywhere nowdays
Smurf: They have old white guys in Iran as well. ancient, ancientrivalries will surface. Maybe in a new form though. Positive thinking can be fun. Diplomacy is a means to an end. Longtermplans are based on positive projections of own populations future, with the added wish for neighbours and extending to all planet. Models of cooperation are viable. Smiles Maybe its the preassure of rule facing expanding expectations and populations. Most people seem to be opposed to government politics. But we still want the good life, as defined by growing consumption.
but such a regime hardly promotes consumption in the economic sense..... all it promotes is uncertainity and reluctance
Oh yes they want growing economy. If they have a good strategy is a dif question. And what growth is is an open question. Is balck-market growth. ( Someplaces its vital to the economy ) How valuable is a higher consumption of alcolhol. Whats the cost of the profit ? These are the lines where they have agreed , not to agree. ( While at the same time having forgotten the vital ecological questions. Lets hope that at least cleaningtechnology, and waterpreservation can become issues ).
Who's promoting uncertainty? Their fates were uncertain to begin with, all the old white guys have it out for everyone in that region. Not all of us are fat and greedy and want "the good life" which usually leads to a slowly crumbling populace anyways. There's no stability to be found in that. One of my predictions for 2006 is that after the depression hits, there will be a growing hatred for all the celebrities and stars we once admired, and we will feel a need to punish them for their lavish, consumption-based lifestyles. Being dirt poor and realizing that life sucks because everyone around you consumed as much as they possibly could will do that to you.
froma global perspective smurf western lifestile is both lavish and consumption based..... that means you and me as well!
Well hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Our fat, bloated, all-consuming asses are almost on the verge of collapse, and when our economy melts down and everyone starts going hungry, we really really won't be used to that. So we'll turn our hatred away from ourselves and blame the media for lying to us, and we'll really hate celebrities for not having it quite as hard as us. People always blame the rich in times of desperation, and have a tendency to kill them (i.e. France, Russia). We'll be a nice lesson in history some day, with everyone remembering how that one country that could never have enough wound up devouring itself when it went broke. Americans suck as it is, can you imagine what we'll be like when enter this depression here real soon? Can you blame me for wanting to dispense a little justice when all goes to hell, preemptively naming my gats Law and Order? Can you blame another country for not wanting to imitate us?
Iran as a country is difficult to understand or at least predict. Five years ago with the student demonstrations it looked like they were on the verge of going a different direction from where they are now. What about this new leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He seems to be part of the extreme fringe. Without jumping in to the assumption that he is from the mainstream. Cause I do not believe that. By what sort of margin was he elected does any one know? Seems to me that he is a little desperate, showboating a bit. Not acting rational at least. I’m just trying to figure out what his game is. Is he acting like a fool because he is stupid or is he stupid like a fox? However that saying goes.
Smurfslappa said We had a depression, about 80 years ago. People were riding high back then, too. And the country came out of it. I think you underestimate the compassion that exists in the United States. The success of the United States has been based on mass co-operation, whatever the mechanism. I think a depression would re-inforce that, not make it crumble.
The Americans of 80 years ago are not the Americans we have these days. Back in the day, people actually cared, were in a better position to handle a depression, had better life skills, knew how to grow food, and the country wasn't as jam packed as it is now. People were riding high back then; they think they're riding high now but they're not. The country rose to what it was because of the mass cooperation, and has descended to the shell of what it is now because of greed and stupidity. The majority of people will get ugly real quick to get theirs, and I hate knowing that's how it's gonna go down.
Smurfslappa said... You, all of that sounds like things that would prevent a deprsession from happening in the first place. If what you're saying is true, then the depression shouldn't have happened in the first place. The reason the depression hit is because of over-valuation of stock, and poor financial skills. Quite a few people killed themselves, that doesn't sound like they were "better" prepared, now does it. The depression restored balance amongst social networks, and if a depression were to hit again the same thing would happen, because you wouldn't have the income gap that separates people into "classes." Everyone is poor in a depression, and it stops people from having that "get mine" mentality. The reason things are the way they are right now is because the depression generation is dead, and the lessons of it have been forgotten. Doesn't mean they can't be learned again.
Which depression cause I understand there were some that actually capatilized on the situation and did quite well. I was led to believe that there were two classes and the seperation gap was simply larger
Joeslogic said... True, but the vast majority of people became poor. There was no longer a middle class. In any given economic system you get have's and have nots. It's just that during the depression the haves were an extreme minority. The have nots were forced to depend on each other. The lessons learned during the depression about economics and society are being forgotten. What I'm saying is that if another depression were to come along that would restore balance.[/quote]
Possibly true, at least one would hope so. Could go the other way though. There are different powers of influence now as apposed to then. Some groups love to stir up dissent with class warfare tactics. You see Dio I do not see big government as the answer. Although you never said it and possibly never thought it. I believe the general public would be influenced by an idea that Government would be the place to find the answer to all there problems.
